Remotely controlled landing gear



Jan. 14, 1964 l?. KEn-:n 3,117,766

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RENOTBLY CONTROLLEID LANDING GEAR Filed Juno 29, 1961 4 Shoots-Sheet 2 M" m m INVENTOR.

Lawrence Kee/ ORNE Y Jan. 14, 1964 L, KETEL 3,117,766

REUO'I'BIX CONTROLLED LANDING GEAR Filed June 29. 1961 4 Shoots-Shoot 3 nfl O (3 ln Il Q Si 'Q n l. m

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g Lawrence /fee/ E f77' ORNEY Jan. 14, 1964 L.' KETEL RB-IOTELY CONTROLLED LANDING GEAR 4 Shoots-Sheet 4 Filed Juno 29, 1961 IN VEN TOR. Lawrence /fe fd HrraR/va-Y United States Patent O 3.1 17,766 REMOTELY CONTROLLEI) LANDING GEAR Lawrence Ketel, 1850 Illinois St. SW., Huron, S. Dalt. Filed .lune 29, 196i. Ser. No. 120,689 I Claim. (Cl. 254-86) My invention relates to a landing gear for semi-trailer trucks.

An object of my invention is to which can be conveniently controlled by the operator ot the semi-trailer truck. and in which there will be provided means whereby the landing gear will be operated from the storage battery of the vehicle or any other desired electrical source.

A further object of my invention is to provide such electrical operating means so that the landing gear will be operated without requiring manual operation thereof. with means being provided however whereby manual operation can be ellectcd when necessary.

A further object of my invention is to provide automatic means whereby the operating motor will be sluit oli' at thc landing gear upper range. or at its lowest range.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction. arrangement. and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated arc attained. as hereinafter more fully set forth. pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. in which:

FIGURE l is a partially sectional view of my device.

FIGURE 2 is an end view of FIGURE I,

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged generally sectional view of the automatic Contact arrangement,

FIGURE 4 is u sectional view taken generally along the line 4-4 oi FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken gencrally along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 5, and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic view of the electrical circuit.

My invention contemplates thc provision of a landing gear for semi-trailers. and wherein the landing gear is operated by means of an electric motor to either raise or lower the landing gear as desired, etc.

In describing my invention I have used the character I0 to indicate vertically positioned cylindrical housings including thc ears Il for providing suitable attachment to n trailer body. so that the landing gear can be attached thereto. and I have further used the character 12 to indicate an upper housing including a suitable bevel gear arrangement in common with most landing gears manufactured to date, for'raising or lowcring-the lower inner housing 13 which is attached as at 14 to a lower structurc 15 to which the wheels I6 are attached. the wheels i6 being coupled to the transverse member 17, and wherehy these wheels will roll upon the ground surface. At the left-hand side of the arrangement as shown in FIGURE i, a substantially similar structure is provided as far as thc mechanical arrangement islconccrncd. and wherein I provide the member I8 which is ilrmly secured to the further inner tclcscoplng member I3, tite character 19 indicatingintermediate cylinders, the grcatcr part ol' the structure at the right-hand side of FIGURE l being substantially thc same throughout as explained above.

Tltrcadably engaging thc members 18 at'= 19a arc the lengthened screws 20, so that suitable rotation of the screws 20 will correspondingly raise or lower the members 18 together with thc members 13.

In considering the left hand side of FIGURE l tho upper end of the screw 20 is suitably attached as at 21 to a bevel gear 22 which meshes with tho farther bevel gear 23 to which bevel gear 23 is attached the transverse 24 which is attached to the coupling member 25 which drives the shaft 26, which in tarn drives a similar bevel gear arrangement for operating thc right hand member 13.

shaft provide a landing gear fill -FIGURES 4 and 5) "ice Tho character 27 indicates an auxiliary gear attached to the shaft 24 which can be used with the gear 28 if desired for increasing the power of the arrangement, and the character 29 indicates a further Ilat gear adapted to mesh with the larger fiat gear 30 which is attached to the shaft 3l.

The shaft 3l is suitably coupled or attached to a further shaft 32. The shaft 32 is suitably journalled within a casing 33 and is securely attached to a further large gear 34 which gear 34 meshes with a smaller gear 35 (scc with the gear 35 being attached to a bevel gear 36, this arrangement being suitably journalled as n t 37a (see FIGURE 4).

The bevel gear 36 meshes with a further pair of bevel gears 37 and 38 which arc attached to the further gears 39 and 40, these gears being journallcd on the shaft 4l which is suitably attached within the casing portion 42. Thc character 43 indicates a gear clement having the gear portions 44 and 45 at either end thereof which gear element is slidably engaged on the rod 44a which is attached to the casing walls, and thc gear element 43 includes thc annular slot portion 44h adapted to engage the fork 45u which is suitably secured as at 46 to a further rod 47 which is adapted to slide through the bushing 48, and attached to the rod 47 is a pin 49 which is received within the slot 50 which is provided within the portion 5I of a rocking member which is pivolcd at 52 to a wall 53 of tite casing. and pivotally attached at 54 to the rocking portion 55 is a solenoid rod 56 which includes solenoid plungers at each end and which plungers are actuated by cithcr solenoid S7 or 58. it thus being noted that actuation of either solenoid will provide means for moving thc rod 47 in either direction to thereby engage either the gear clement 44 with the gear 39, or the gear element 45 with the gear 40 to thereby provide means for changing the direction of rotation of operation.

The character 59 indicates a spring urged ball clement provided in combination with thc fork 45a, the character 60 indicating indentations for providing stop means. The character 6I indicates a slot in`which the portion 55 will operate.

The character 62 indicates the electric motor shaft, the electric motor being indicated by thc character 63. which motor is therefore adapted to drive the further integral shaft portion 44u which is thc cad portion of the shaft 62, and to therefore drive the entire arrangement.

The character 64 indicates an upper slot in the leithand member I3, and the character 65 indicates a lower slot therein. Attached to the stationary left-hand membcr l0 as viewed in FIGURE l, are a pair of contact switches 66 aud 67 (scc FIGURES 2 and 3) which switches arc operated by the piungcrs 68 and 69, these plungers 68 and 69 being adapted to be spring urged by bil the springs 68u into the slots 64 or 65. and with these switches being adapted to open the circuits to thereby stop the motor when the landing gear reaches either its uppermost orplower-most position, so that in elTcct tite circuit will be utomatically broken at either point, thereby providing a fool-prooi' arrangement.

For instance, as shown in FIGURE 3. the plunger 68 will have the circuit broken at the switch 66. the section at FIGURE 3 being taken somewhat freely to show the operation of both switches and slots.

FIGURE 6 illustrates thc electrical circuit, the character 70 indicating a dash-mounted switch with the contact elements 7i providing a method ol operating the circuit when the elcmcnt 70 is either pushed inwardly or pulled outwardly, which thereby control the circuit, the character 72 indicating the battery, tho character 73 indicating generally a male and female socket arrangement which can be pulled apart when desired.

it will thus bc no d from the fore-going description that my invention will function as stated in the objects of my invention. or in other words will provide a convenient arrangement whereby the operator will not at all find tt necessary to raise and lower the landing gear by thc laborious process of manually operating the same. and will provide means whereby the lowering and raising action is conveniently effected.

lt should also be especially noted that through the various gearing arrangements described, the smooth application of maximum power is provided without the use of extra worm gears or worms. which would not allow for the convenient operation of the slidable gear arrangements described herein.

The extending portion 74 of the shaft 32 can be arranged to have an auxiliary handle attached thereto` in.

thoseicases where it may be desired to operate the arrangement without the electrical source.

The character 75 (see FIGURE l) indicates a brace which is clamped at 76 to the member l0 and at 77 to the easing 33. which is provided to prevent retrograde movement of tite casing 33.

The switches 66 and 67 are covered by the cap 78. suitably seated to keep out dust and moisture.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may bo reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

A remotely controlled landing gear comprising a pair of laterally spaced lift members including upper sections, lower sections slidably engaged with said upper sections, means for raising and lowering said lower sections including threaded members attached to said lower sections, leagthened screws threadably engaging said threaded members. means for rotating said screws including bevel gears, means for operating said bevel gears including a shaft, means for driving said shaft including a casing, a further shaft mounted in said casing and attached to said shaft. means for electrically driving said further shaft` said electrical driving means including an electric motor. a plurality of gears positioned between the electric motor drive shaft and said further shaft for driving said further shaft. means for disconnecting said electric motor when said landing gear is at its lowest position` and when said landing gear is at its uppermost position, including vertically spaced slots in one of said lower sections. contact switches attached to one of said ttpper sections. said contact switches including plungers adapted to break the circuit to said motor and means for spring urging cach of said piungers into said slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.131.296 ietsehe et al. Sept. 27. i938 2.817.493 Belcher Dee. 24, i957 FOREIGN PATENTS l.095.463 France Dee. 22, i954 

